Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is a very ancient character of Slavic mythology and folklore. Solid, primal force, it’s both good and evil. Its image goes back to the matriarchy; she is an anthropomorphic presentation of ancient world, of nature. Baba Yaga is the mistress of life and death, she makes sure that all the cycles of life and death follow the correct course. Baba Yaga in her hut on chicken legs lives on the border between two worlds – our world and “the far away Kingdom”. With one foot she stands in the “realm of Death” and possesses experience of all the previous generations. Since Baba Yaga was a guide to the afterworld, she conducts special induction for young fairy tale heroes. “I’ll give you food, I’ll give you water, I’ll put you to bed”, – these are the rituals required to send the hero to another world for some time, send him to “the Far Away Kingdom” where he would perform different heroic feats – he will get a feather of the Firebird, find rejuvenating apples, save the Princess from Koshchei the Immortal. In other words, Baba Yaga is the feminine intuition, the natural power, the knowledge. And women know how to use it.